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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Goan rhapsody

I'm in Goa at the moment, wishing that the headline of this post reflected my time here. But my nostrils are blocked, my throat is aflame, and the internet connection I'm on takes half an hour to open a page. (It's exactly at such times that I thank Amit Agarwal for his excellent tips on how to increase Gmail speed. The Blogger 'new post' window took me 18 minutes to open, so perhaps he can try that next!)

Anyway, this will be my only post for the day, before I go to bury myself in sand or something, so here are a few links for the day.

In Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria tells us why Iran is not the Nazi Germany of 1938, despite what some commentators are saying. To begin with, he writes, in 1938 "Germany had the world's second largest industrial base and its mightiest army." I wonder what they'll be using Ahmadinejad's Iran for as a historical analogy 70 years from now.

Meanwhile, Cambodia passes a ridiculous law that "could send adulterers to jail for up to a year," with a lawmaker saying, "This law is also aimed at reducing corruption, because when government officials have more women, they seek more financial sources to support their girls." They could also ban shopping then, no? (And why are there so many Cambodians in Goa now? Hmm.)

Michael Cook writes in TCS Daily about how the recent fuss about "ethical" stem cells was misplaced, and a goof-up by Nature magazine. All stem cells are adulterous and deceitful by nature, he explains, and thus cannot be ethical. (Ok, ok, I made the previous line up. You know how I get sometimes.)

Kind Friend writes in to me with a link to an NY Times piece on sexual cannibalism. No, literally sexual cannibalism. We're talking mantises here, so stop thinking about your love life.

Back in India, cops in Delhi get creative. No, no, not solving a case, but cooking up a rape case against a businessman who saw one of them molest a woman. As they say, who will watch the watchmen? More watchmen? Then who will watch the watchmen watching the watchmen? Your papa or what?

And finally, our armymen at the border will now have condom vending machines at their disposal. I hope they use them for their intended purpose, and not for condom-blowing contests with their counterparts from across the border. ("My condom is bigger than yours.")

Safe sex is eminently possible, but safe war, sadly, is not. Ah, the world we live in. Bye bye now, and come back tomorrow.